Photograph and research leads to unkown relatives

September 25, 2013

Mrs. Janeese Garey in Ackerman recently discovered a pair of long lost relatives.

Garey noticed a picture of Sue Tim (Moline, IL) and Donna Welty (Davenport, IA) in the Winston County Journal this summer.

The caption undeer the picture mentioned that the two women were visiting Louisville to research the Williams and Gradeff families at Murphy Creek.

Garey upon reading the caption called the Winston County Journal and then the Winston County Library.

The families the two women were researching were her families!.

Garey who is 82, and originally from Louisville, but now lives in Ackerman, had no idea she had family members in Iowa and Indiana.

She was so excited and wanted to know how to get in touch with them.

Winston County Librarian Beth Edwards helped her contact the two ladies by phone.

Garey’s mother was a Williams and her mother’s youngest sister married a Gradeff.

Tim and Welty from the Midwest are making plans to return to Louisville next year for more family research and to meet Garey. Both of them told her that they had a wonderful time in Louisville and thought it was just the nicest and friendliest town.

The common ancestor for the three women is Angelo Gradeff and he is buried at Murphy Creek. He was from Bulgaria and immigrated to Iowa; then to Meridian, MS.

Somewhere along the line he met a lovey Winston County girl named Luda Williams and married her.

He moved to Louisville at that point and lived in the area the rest of his life. He had a reputation as a wonderful farmer in Winston County.

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